Maple Ridge shutting down unlicensed petting zoo
Credit to Author: Scott Brown| Date: Tue, 03 Dec 2019 22:22:51 +0000
The City of Maple Ridge has ordered the closure of an unlicensed petting zoo.
According to the city, the Meadows Family Farm Petting Zoo at 24331 Dewdney Trunk Rd. was operating without a city-issued business licence and necessary approvals from both the Agricultural Land Commission and Fraser Health.
Structures on the property were also found to have been constructed without permits and inspections from the city and the fire department.
After originally being ordered to cease operations in June, the petting zoo operators reached a deal with the city in July on an interim licence, effective until Oct. 1, that allowed them time to obtain all the necessary permits and approvals.
“Key to this was the requirement to ensure that all structures were code compliant and that the health and safety issues for prospective customers were fully addressed in a permanent fashion,” the city said in a news release.
However, the city says an Oct. 8 inspection of the facility revealed Meadows Family Farm Petting Zoo had failed to address its outstanding issues and actually expanded the business by adding new structures.
According to its website, Meadows Family Farm Petting Zoo opened as a hobby farm in 2015 with a few rabbits, chickens, goats and sheep.
“Our pet chickens, bunnies, goats and sheep started to attract attention from many people passing by, and after visiting many of the petting zoos the Lower Mainland has to offer, we decided Maple Ridge needed one too, and we were going to build it,” the website said.
The petting zoo, which shut down for the season last weekend, was served a formal notice to close by Maple Ridge bylaw officers on Tuesday. The petting zoo operator says city assured her family in June that the Oct. 1 deadline would be extended as long they were working toward compliance.
“We were told the deadline would be fluid, but now they are denying they ever said that,” Leanne Lefebvre said.
Lefebvre said she was confident that the petting zoo would have all the necessary permits and approvals in place before its scheduled March opening in 2020.